The
remainder of the evening passed away delightfully in the awakened
harmony. Mrs. Montresor joined Lady Albina in some touching Italian
duets; Pembroke supported both ladies in a fine trio of Mozart's; Mr.
Hopetown requested another favorite son of his country, "Auld Robin
Gray," and himself repaid Lady Albina's kind assent by a magnificent
voluntary on his part, "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled." Mary
accompanied that well known pibroch of "The Bruce" with a true
responsive echo from her harp; but she declined singing herself, and
when Thaddeus took the relinquished instrument from her hand, he
pressed it with a silent tenderness, sweeter to her than could have
been the plaudits of all the accomplished listeners around. That soft
hand had stroked the branching neck of his recovered Saladin the same
morning, and the happy master now marked his feeling of the gentle
deed.
In the course of a few days, Pembroke's wishes with regard to Mr.
Loftus were put into a train of fulfilment, Dr. Blackmore having
undertaken to find a fitting tutor for the young Lord Avon, and in
the interim would receive him into his own classical instruction,
whenever it should be deemed proper to terminate his present holiday
visit in Bedfordshire. But whilst Sir Robert had thus adjudged the
guilty, he was careful not to expose him to fresh temptations, nor to
suffer his crimes to implicate the innocent in its punishment.
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